Capala Shurin: Chapter Two

This is the final copy of this chapter, it stills needs little things done, like formalizing the now and then grammar that's mixed up through it. It's supposed to be now. But somehow changed itself. The story plotline, and otherwise how it's told, minus grammar issues, is how it's going to stay.

Desolation. One figure left. Tremors wrack the body. Movement.

Foot.

Foot.

Foot.

A wry smile. Exit stage left. The body retrieves the discarded pack. Hidden outside of the battle. Away from the desolation. A mile. Body collapses.

~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~ . ~

The weather slowly becomes cooler now as the sun ends it’s marathon days. Only half the trees in the area have begun to change colors. Those gifted enough to be in the woods could gaze at the awe-inspiring, picturesque woods. The woods held an appeal that could not be captured in any painting. Perhaps it was the way that the wind moved the branches so that the leaves could boast loudly of their changing colors as the sun reflected off the leaves brightly.

The little girl could stand for hours and stare at the leaves of the trees as they changed their colors in honor of the Fall. She had grown with the speed that all toddlers do. She was now tall enough that her head came above the women’s knee. The frown that the girl had used to continuously wear had, at first faded, then vanished. The women too began to frown less as she became accustomed to the sounds of the forest. When they had first arrived the women had jumped at any loud sound. Now the women only startled at sounds that did not appear to belong in the forest. When startled, if in the clearing, the women would grab the child and hide in the bush.

As Autumn began to gain a hold on nature the animals once again began to prepare for winter. The frolicking that had been done in spring now led to heavily pregnant females and over protective males. Animals that hibernated were nearly done collecting food for Winter; the noises in the forest were beginning to change. The women became more and more suspicious as the forest became quieter. Again she would jump at any unusual, or loud sounds.

While the women primarily took note of the animals, the girl continued her study of the trees; fascinated. The trees that had captured her attention most were the ones that at the height of summer had purple leaves. As the trees prepared to shed their leaves or the long sleep of winter, the leaves would change color. The trees with the purple leaves would create the most amazing combination of colors. Purple would turn to black, edged with brilliant red. Oranges and yellows in various shades and combinations with the other colors would make an appearance, creating miniature, temporary portraits of the spirit of the Autumn.

Under the tees whose leaves did turn, and those that kept their leaves was movement. The movement was different from the animals who lived in the area. The sounds that accompanied the movement would have sent the women for the deepest part of the under bush. The sound came:

Tramp.

Tramp.

Tramp.

Tramp.

Tramp.

This is the sound of boots heavily hitting the forest floor. These boots were filled with men. These men were covered in army green; the color of those who do not care if they blend in. Hands shift as men signal. A man passes under one of the girl’s beloved purple leaved trees. He has a limp from walking to long without prolonged rest. Emphasis is put on the lack of rest as you look at the man next to the one under the tree. This is a man whose only distinguishing feature is sunken and shadowed eyes.

The man with the limp led the way, breaking from the cover of trees to cross a small meadow that had trees growing in it sporadically. The man with sunken eyes followed ten feet behind and to the limped man’s right. To the leading man’s left was another man. This man sometimes came even with the limping man, but frequently fell behind. His tiredness was characterized by short burst of excessive energy. The last man stood behind the leading man to the right of the man who so often lagged behind. He moved so lethargically that it was a wonder that he kept up with the other men at all. From an ariel view, the men made a deformed square.

As the men walked they grumbled. Snatches of their conversation could be heard. Pieced together it told a tale of their appointed leader abusing his rights and leaving early, forcing the rest of the men to move faster to take his slack. The leader of the squad also held a different rank. He was also the appointed representative of three other squads. The four squads together formed a troop of twenty men. Each troop leader represented their soldiers in the Band Council. The Council’s main objective was to advise the higher ranking officers on how to use each squad to full capacity, what the squad was specialized in. They also oversaw the care and maintenance of their soldiers. The council was made up of many different officers with varying ranks. The total number of the Council was five hundred. When not in session the members held regular duties as according to their rank.

The man who had raised his arm to put his hand in his pocket. Withdrawing the hand a piece of paper followed. The paper was straightened to reveal a map. On the map was marked a spiral. Each piece of the spiral searched had been marked off into a grid. The spiral covered an immense amount of land. A full regiment had been assigned to the search. A regiment contained ten thousand men, composed of ten companies, which breaks down to ten divisions, made up of five troops. There are five hundred troops to a regiment.

The beginning of the spiral was marked in the middle of the woods, six days away from the nearest town, as the crow flies, but an eight day journey on horse back. This town as the trading capital of the region, it was newly built, due to the Lord of the area’s command. To build the town, and other ambitious projects, the area was under a forced change, homesteads were burned and torn down, and good farm land lay in ruins with the travel of building supplies over the shortest route possible, old roads and been made obsolete, as new roads were developed, directing buying customers away from previously well off businesses. It one had been a months hard ride on a kept road to the old town in the north. A new road had been built spanning the river. The Lord continued pushing forward with his projects, even though the people of the area were largely against it. In the new town they brought in modern convinces that the old town did not have room for inside it’s walls. When the people continued to stand against the new projects, sometimes taking shape in mild sabotage, their homes and fields were scorched to the ground, and livelihoods ruined. This action displaced many of the people in the north, the ones that had not been made examples of. The town of the North now became known as the dying town, all roads into it except for one leading south to the new town, fell into heavy disrepair.

The new town was built much like a fortress, near the mountains. A five day ride from the new town the road split. A crossroad was formed by a third road. One lead southeast, toward the new town, one southwest to the plains, and one north over the bridge spanning the river. The road over the bridge slowly bent east, then more north west, before straightening out and heading almost due north. From the crossroads it was almost another five day journey on horse back to Old Town.

Once across the bridge, the limping man lead his soldiers west to search the forest, while others went east, and others still searching the river its self, and the lake that the river pooled into in the east, past the bridge. Other soldiers had joined them to look, but then had moved off in different directions. They had been searching the forest for all of ten days before their right leader abused his privilege and left. Thirteen days after that they continued their duty. They were slow due to missing a body and the thick forest that they were unused to.

After putting in a fifteen hour search they all would meet at the end of the day to make camp. All the soldiers had become very superstitious after searching so much forest. Before meeting together again at night, other troops had lost soldiers, some who had injured themselves and could not find their way back again nor were near enough to call for help, dying of exposure before the others realized they were not keeping pace. The one funding the search had been displeased with this behavior, as it cost more time, but the solider’s superiors were unable to break them of this habit.

Wrestling with the paper so that it remained flat the man with the limp pointed at the map and gestured to the men where to go. After confirming directions he pointed out where they would meet at the end of the day. The time set to meet at the site was one hour before sunset. The men then went off to search their part of the grid as they saw best.

Before Dawn broke the next morning the men were up, and they had broken camp. At the break off dawn the men had entered the new grid and again split up to search. The man with the limp moved east through the overgrowth, moving with the ease of training that they all had received to cope with traveling through the untamed land.

The solider then turns north and begins searching his own part of the grid. The further north the man turns the more difficult it is to continue. Entire trees had been consumed by brambles, making land mines in an already dangerous area. You could never tell where pushing through blindly would gain a few feet or find a tree, and quickly arrest any progress.

The next day all the men had grouped together to try and find a way through. This is what they would have used the fifth solider for. He would have helped search for a way through the day before while the rest were searching, and they would have been able to simply continue. Instead they were stuck searching and falling even further behind the schedule.

After a day and a half of all of them looking, a way through is found. Deep breaths, sighs, stretches and other ways to relax muscles are preformed. The soldiers look to where they've come. Muscles again tighten, along with tight mouths, lips pressed together. A single strip of land runs in a relatively straight line between two near solid walls formed by vegetation, the strip turning some twenty feet left and near hundred feet right. Tall grass up to the men’s waist grows in the strip of land. Tree limbs cross at odd angles, dripping with ivy.

The soldiers hastily push forward across the grass, tripping over the uneven land. The soldiers wildly turn their heads, bodies acting as if without thought as they scrutinized the new wall of trees, brambles and vines. Quick, jerky movements become characteristic of the soldiers. Eyes wide, the skin around them tight, Jaws clenched, with lips relaxed, muscles twitching. Frantically they dodge obstacles of limbs and broom, ripping from the captors of bramble weeds, and shying from stinging nettle. The rush continued until the men broke their way through the traps Mother Nature had so carelessly strewn.

In a short passage of time you could no longer count the men's heart beats by looking at the pulse o their necks. Their movements too had become again more fluid and controlled. Again the men separated to continue to search the grid. All attempts to move faster were wallowed by overwhelming weariness. The forest on this side of the break was filled with much more undergrowth, but nearly no tree limbs were near the ground. The men separated again to finish searching out the last of this grid

Almost finished, and turning tower the meting point of the other soldiers, the limped man chanced upon a variation o the undergrowth. Parts of the ground were visible, and the undergrowth wasn't as nearly as thick over this oddity. The solider had found a path.

Thrown from the 'Coaster for the lack of a Belt

I've been thinking that I should post something here. And then the ridiculous work days they ask me to work will catch up to me, and I'll go to sleep instead. Today you are lucky, and I have some reserve left. So you get something of an update I think.

I decided that I hadn't read enough fluff titles recently (aka. Oscar Wilde and middle-esque english King Authur and His Knights) so I have a quick fluff book from a friend. It's helped, I acutally still can go through a book in a day and a half! They just can't be accedemically acceptable books. Like you couldn't reference this on a biblography sort of thing. By the way, Sir Lancelot is NO longer my favorite knight. He's well... not excatly who I'd thought he'd be. Sir Galahad (Sir Lancelot's illegitmate son, cause you know he was only trying to sleep with the Queen and got tricked with this other girl) has definately taken the position of favorite Knight of the round table.

The reason for wanting to read this paticular book through? (Once you get used to the writing style {and the fact that most of it is borrowed from French fables... that were, um weirder if the introduction is to be believed} it's really quite engaging) It would be 'A Perfect Gentle Knight' by Kit Pearson. Now anyone who knows Pearson will regconize her as the one to write 'Awake and Dreaming' which is set in downtown Victoria. Sweet, I know. She mostly writes young adult/preteen stuff. That said, it's high quality writing, the plot and such are the things mostly um, held back? How would you say it? Gah.

Anyway, the book in question borrows it's title from Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' from the introduction when the knight is introduced. You can easily find it. The copy I have reads it as, "He was a verray, parfit, gentil knight." Commonly now known as, "He was a very, perfect, gentil knight." Anyways, they make reference to King Auther and the assorted tales. This does include 'Le Morte Darthur'. I haven't quiet gotten there yet though.

The whole thing is incredably interesting to me. That's all.

On an unrelated note (sortof), here is the first chapter of the cleaned up copy of the book I am writing. Well, attempting to write.

Attempting.

It got put off to the side once I started working more, while I was striving to find balance in life again. I'm getting there so I'm thinking about it again. I have up to Chapter Three roughly outlined, and know generally what will happen, unless the characters decided that they know better than I do what should be done, up to Chapter 5 or 6. The girl is interesting. I'm having trouble getting into her head later. So, we'll see.

Let me know what you think! I haven't written in years, but I've gotten good responses so far. Grammer errors or any questions are more than welcome. The story is going to be named "Capla Shurin". For no other reason than I liked what it sounded like at the time, and named the story thus.

Chapter One (Unnamed Title, RE: Up for grabs if you think of a good title before I do.)

.~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~

Fingers Tremble. An outstrectched hand struggles to rise. Trembles work their way up and down the arm. Muscles seize. The body wavers. A fight ensues agaisnt gravity. The hand struggles to continue. The hand drops an inch. Sheer will holds the hand up despite the trembling. The trembling becomes limited. The hand has reached it's apppointed height. Posture is streaightened. the other arm moves quickly mirroring the first. The sleeve is still intact on this arm. It is dry; it had not been dyed.

.~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~

There had once been a clearing. It was a lovely place to go to in the late spring and during the summer. Too early in the spring and ground was so soft that you could sink your lower leg half way into the mud. Before that the ground was cold, hard and harsh from the throes of winter. In the late spring the ground lost enough of its moister that it could be crossed without sinking into the mud, but retained enough moister that unlike the ground in winter it would cushion walking.

This clearing was surrounded by trees. In a hollow on the edge of the clearing an ancient weeping willow could be found. It was now dying, as it was losing the competition with the tall trees for rescources. The trees surrounding the clearing were tall and straight. Various kinds of evergreens with branches full of needles so thick that harldy any underbush could survive for lack of sunlight. The lack of underbush made it very easy to walk, even though there was not much light.

On the other side of the clearing it was not the trees that dominated, but the underbush that held sway over the ground. This was not for lack of effort on the trees part. Saplings struggled in fierce competition with the bush. Prehaps in the years to come the trees would reclaim the area.

The clearing itself was shaped very much like a figure eight, or a slightly melted, half built snowman. Neither outer circle of the clearing could be completed without overlapping the other to a great degree. The larger circle approximently held a fifty meter radius. The smaller circle was only a third of that size. The odd shape and composition of the clearing looked as if it was not what nature intended.

The evergreens surrounded most of the larger part of the clearing, while the overgrown underbush threatened to claim parts of the smaller circle. On one side. where the evergreens and underbush met, the taller trees blocked the sun for most of the day, slowly killing the bush. At eht other meeting place the thorny bushs and creepers beat back the trees. The trees grew thinner on this side and the bush thicker, turning the odds in the bush's favor. Almost all theought the underbush the growth was impassible. Those that passed the clearing infact found it quicker to detour around the bush than to attempt to force their way through.

High up in the branches of one of the dying trees where the bush had begun to take over the trees, was a squirrel. The squirrel huffs, while it's tails twitches agitatedly. the squirrel is trying to calculate a jump of about one foot.

A little girl runs beneath the squirrel, forcing it's choice in a moment of panick. The girl looks no older than two. She is dressed in light brown fiberous pants and shirt. Her iris' are so pale blue that they almost meld and are forgotten nto the whites of her eyes. Her pupils are not quiet black, but seem more of a very dark brown. she had just run out from the thickest part of the bush.

On a hidden path her mother follows, calling a name now lost in memory. The girl turns and her black hair whips her face before settling on her shoulders. The women's image is now blurry at the edges, the more detailed features lost in time. She is slightly shorter than adverage height. She had given her daughter her black hair and her own was pulled into a bun at the back and base of her head. She has brown eyes; her figure is slender, and at one time may have been called fine, but now it appears fragile. The clothes she wore were a loose fitting pants and shirt, colored to fit into their current surroundings. They were much more worn now, as they had been taken out of all circumstance that they had been intended for. The girl laughs distracted, and continues playing a game of her own making.

.~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~

Arms stretched. Held far away as possible. Palms splayed forward. The body sways. Energy focused. Pushed toward the palm. Centered in palm. The arm swings. Energy shoots forward. Mile ahead, yells. A sigh. A groan. A hum. All covered in white. Job done, hand drops. Energy collected down arm. Dances down the red. Arm shoots forward. Covers all white with black. Screams. Shouts.

Death echoes.

.~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~ .~

The girl is called again. She continues to ingnore this and runs out into the clearing. The women sighes. Then it is the girls trun to sigh as her name is called again, sharply, with the threat of punishment, so she can not ignore it. Little puffs of dirt rise as the girl turns toward her mother. the women gestures for her to come closer and kneel. The girl moves forward and inch and lowers herself without moving her feet.

A lesson begins. The details are lost in the frequency and multitude of others so similar. This lesson is about herbs. With the end of the lesson the women and girl fade back into the bush. The once impercebtible paths have become overgrown and impassible. Following the paths you would come to the unmemorable shelter in which they took refuge.

Pieces of the little girl's lessons can still be recalled with startling clarity. Most of the lessons were only theory, but most of the lessons were looked upon as a diverson by the girl. They were something for her to truly focus on. However some lessons, like how to pour tea, were given by rote and quickly forgotten for the girl gave little attention to them.

The lessons continue and time passes. The women visibly becomes less vigilent. The strong heat of summer stole the energy with which the women used to maintain her suspicions. The warm long days were luring with their sense of security. The women's face could be sometimes seen cast into a state of wistful hope. during the summer days the girl was allowed to entertain herself in the clearing between her lessons.

The days could be counted by the length of time the sun had been in the sky. The days were long for nearly fifteen hours the sun would be unobstructed in the sky. The presence of light in the sky could be said to start and finish before and after this time, as the sun rose and fell for dawn and dusk. After the dusk had completely come, the nights were a repreive from the heat and mostly cool due to a breeze that would sweep up from under the trees. Few of the nights however the breeze did not blow and the night would retain the heat and mugginess of the day. If one stood in the clearing at the hieght of the day, which occured between one and four int he afternoon, the hear would be so intesnse that within minutes the person's skin would dry out and become cracked.

As the spring turned into summer the wildlife increased as the animals returned from the south and woke up from their long slumber. An additional increase came from the young ones that had been born. Over protective species remained on high alert, snarlling or growlling in the face of danger. This aditional noise relaxed the women fuher, for once she learne to read the animal's sounds she could tell if something was in the forest that was a vistior or a threat.

Water may have been a concern given the intense heat. The women ha found a pit that had been dug, that once was a well. It was now half hidden in the mass of under bush, hidden deeper under a wildly growing throne bush. The stones scatered around the pit implied that it had been a well once rimmed with stones, and prehaps a wooden canopy. The women had immeiately started searching for a source of water when they first arrived at the clearing, and had been flooded with an overwhelming relif that she would be able to provie for the girl. After finding the water source, the women's next task was to create a cover for the pit. This needed to be designed to keep out most bugs and insects, and other debri from falling in. The wooden woven cover would also act as a barrier to prevent the girl from falling in.

If spring was their chance for new life than that summer they lived it.